Turkey has accused Icelandic officials of showing disrespect to its national team after players said they were kept waiting at passport control for three hours and had their bags searched a day before their Euro 2020 qualifier.
The Turkey captain, Emre Belozoglu, also had a dishwashing brush thrust towards his face as he spoke outside Keflavik airport about his team’s treatment. “We were searched more than once which was unnecessary, and we were told to wait until now,” he said.
The vice-captain, Burak Yilmaz, was much angrier. “What they have done is disrespectful and rude,” he told Turkish TV reporters waiting outside. “We have been waiting here for three hours. They took everyone’s bags and even everyone’s cosmetics. They searched it again and again. We flew for six and a half hours and we’ve waited for three hours.”
Turkey’s team, fresh from its defeat of world champions France on Saturday, flew into Keflavik airport on Monday morning before their match against Iceland on Tuesday.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said action will be taken. “The disrespect shown to our national team in Iceland is unacceptable and what is necessary will be done,” he wrote on Twitter. “Our national team will give the best response on the field.”
Ibrahim Kalin
(@ikalin1)Milli takımımıza İzlanda’da yapılan saygısızlık kabul edilemez ve gereği yapılacaktır. Girişim başlatılmıştır.
Devletimiz ve milletimiz milli takımın yanındadır.
En güzel cevabı milli takımımız sahada verecektir.
The complaint was echoed by foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the spokesman of Erdogan’s ruling AK party and other officials. Turkey’s embassy in Oslo sent a diplomatic note to Iceland’s government protesting at the “disrespect” shown to the team.
There was no immediate comment from Iceland’s government or foreign ministry. Omar Smarason, head of media and marketing at the Football Association of Iceland, said all passengers from “non-certified” airports received similar checks. Iceland’s players went through the same procedure when they arrived home from Turkey’s Konya airport five years ago, he added.
The man with the brush was shown on Turkish TV filming himself with a mobile device as he approached the players with his mock microphone.
Turkish social media users responded with indignation, and graphics showing the Icelandic flag with a brush taking the place of the vertical bar of its red cross. The hashtag #TurksAreComingForIceland trended on Twitter in Turkey.
Turkey currently lead their Euro 2020 qualifying Group H, having shocked France with a 2-0 win in Konya on Saturday, followed by France then Iceland, who beat Albania 1-0 at home on Saturday.